HEADPHONE AMP QUESTION.

I'm looking for a really good headphone amp to practice on late at night when I can't turn up that loud. Does anyone know if the Rockman Bass Ace is any good, or is there a company out there who makes a higher quality product?

I absolutely love my cafe walter. It is the perfect headphone amp. Sounds better than my amps do. Don't forget to spring for some good headphones such as Sennheiser 555s. You'll want something comfortable if you're going to be practicing for hours on end.

The Rockman works, and it has an input for CD or tape to play along with. Very compressed signal, unless you barely move the input control. As I said, it works fine for working on your playing, but the sound leaves something to be desired.

How much do those Cafe Walters run? The link was an "email for price" job.

Thanks,
P.

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I agree with Pickles. The Cafe Walter is great. Also, you can plug in a Sony Discman into the secondary input, and it has independent gain controls for the Bass and the external source. That way you can adjust the volume of the music you are playing to independently from the volume of your bass. The sound quality for both inputs is great!!

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It starts to get into what else you think you might want to do with it. I have a Korg PX3B (Pandora's Box) and I also have a TASCAM MKII CDBT. Both have headphone output capability and both are in the same price range as the Cafe Walter.

Korg Pandora's Box (PX3D is now available)

Small unit that can fit in your pocket or in a case you can clip to your belt

Very good amplification through headphones

Can except input from any audio device. I hook mine up to my iPod

Can be used as a tuner

Has more effects and presets than you'll ever use

Has a built in metronome or drum accompaniment

Can be used to slow down sections while maintaining pitch

Can be used to loop through hard to learn sections of a song

TASCAM CDBT

Most of the same attributes as Pandora, but not as easily transportable

IMHO, earphone amplification is not as good as Pandora

IMHO slow down mode is better than Pandora

Has its own CD player built in, but still excepts other audio input

I have both, use both, and prefer the Pandora's Box by a slim margin, primarily because I can stick it in a pocket and move on.

I've had two of these (the original CDBT and the new MkII). The CD player quit working altoghether on the first one (right after the waranty expired :scowl: ). The MkII has developed a "skip" in the CD player (sounds like an old vinyl record with a scratch), and it's not he CD-- I've tested it with several and tested played the same CD's in two other players.

If you want good quality sound with tempo control try using a PC with software called The Amazing SlowDowner. IMO, slows tempo with less distortion of the sound than the TASCAM and costs *A LOT* less (if you already have a PC, and if you're reading this, you do! ).

If you want good quality sound with tempo control try using a PC with software called The Amazing SlowDowner. IMO, slows tempo with less distortion of the sound than the TASCAM and costs *A LOT* less (if you already have a PC, and if you're reading this, you do! ).

Peace again,

Matt

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This is true, but in my situation, I'm usually not home when I'm listening to something that requires tempo control. That usually happens when I'm out and asked to play something that I'm not familiar with. In some cases it's something I've never heard before. If I can plug somebody's iPod or CD into my headphone amp and slow it down, I can usually figure out what's going on. That's why I like the portability of the Pandora over the TASCAM.

A bit OT, but I just discovered the usefullness of the headphone out on my ME-50B. I've been using it quite a bit lately with a new baby and all - I sit on the couch with the ME-50B on the table so I can twiddle knobs, and I put the baby monitor right beside the pedal board. It can also put me in the same room as my wife after the kid is asleep too and I don't get the "you don't spend time with me anymore" business.